[web-team]RE: massively broken links at VTA web site

[Wheeler, Allen]

Ian:

Thank you for your comments.

We hoped to minimize the impact of the site change by redirecting all
schedule information.  Obviously we've fallen short of that goal.

Due to the significant changes to the site, we do not intend to redirect
every page, but we will continue to investigate problems with redirects to
schedule timetable and map pages.

Thanks again, I'll have my technical people figure out what went wrong.

-Allen

Allen D. Wheeler
Valley Transportation Authority - ISG
All you touch, you change; all you change, changes you - Butler


-----Original Message-----
From: ikluft at thunder.sbay.org [mailto:ikluft at thunder.sbay.org]
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2000 2:25 AM
To: webmaster at vta.org
Cc: web-team at svlug.org; chris at valinux.com
Subject: massively broken links at VTA web site


I noticed that the VTA web site was reorganized on October 1.  It looks
nice.
The problem is that the reorg moved lots of files without putting redirects
in for the old locations.  Everyone in the outside world who links to VTA's
web pages (such as bus and light rail schedules) now has a broken link!

With a meeting coming up on Wednesday for the Silicon Valley Linux User
Group,
I fixed the links on our meeting directions page so that our attendees who
use transit can find bus and light rail schedules.  If you need to use our
page as an example for future reference, it's at
   http://www.svlug.org/directions-cisco-9.shtml

But undoubtedly some other groups around Silicon Valley who give directions
with links to VTA's web site may not be able to react so quickly.  It could
disrupt meetings around the valley for weeks or months.  So please add
redirects from your pre-reorg URLs to the new ones.  If you don't know how
to do this, contact somoene who is familiar with your web server and
software.  Although I noticed you use the same software we do...

VTA's new web server reports that it's running Apache on Debian GNU/Linux.
The "Redirect" operation for your web server software is documented at
   http://www.apache.org/docs/mod/mod_alias.html#redirect

Please make it your ongoing policy to add redirects for old pages whenever
you move any of them.  Assume that any page you've shown to the public could
be linked from someone else's web site.  And you'll break their links by
moving or removing any page.  But a redirect tells their browser the new
location.  This allows you the freedom to organize your site as you like
without breaking links to your site.  You have bus and train schedules so
it's very important for VTA to preserve everyone's links to its site.

Since you're Linux users, consider yourselves invited to attend the SVLUG
meeting this Wednesday evening or the first Wednesday of every month.
It'll be at Cisco's "Vineyards Conference Center" in Bldg 9 in
North San Jose, two blocks east of  VTA's Baypointe LRT station.
More information on SVLUG can be found at http://www.svlug.org/
-- 
Ian Kluft  KO6YQ   PP-ASEL                              sbay.org coordinator
ikluft(at)thunder.sbay.org   http://www.kluft.com/~ikluft/      San Jose, CA